Hand held high at opportunity of a lifetime

Officer Cadet Sam Miller

3 March 2007
by Anna Norman

In a first for the New Zealand Defence Force, an officer cadet from the New Zealand Army will depart New Zealand this week for a year’s military training at Officer Cadet School Singapore.

Officer Cadet Sam Miller, who has completed three years and a Bachelor of Defence Studies under the NZ Army Kippenberger Scheme, will be the first Kiwi officer cadet to train at OCS Singapore.

Replacing him in New Zealand is Singapore Armed Forces Officer Cadet Ming Yao Lim, who is currently attending the NZ Army Commissioning Course at OCS New Zealand.

The Commandant of OCS New Zealand, Lieutenant Colonel Paul Curry, said the exchange was an extension of the NZ Army’s “long and strong relationship with the Singaporean Armed Forces”.

LT COL Curry said that they wanted to send someone with the personality, character and attributes that could cope with military training in a foreign country. He said that although the Kippenberger Class had a number of strong contenders, OCDT Miller stood out as embodying those attributes.

LT COL Williams, Director of Training and Commitments at Army General Staff said that, depending on the experiences and information gained by OCDT Miller, the exchange may become an annual activity.

“It is seen as a good opportunity for the gaining of wider knowledge and exposure, and a good engagement, representational and professional experience for OCDT Miller”, said LT COL Williams.

Having been brought up in New Zealand and only having travelled as far as Australia, OCDT Miller said he was really excited about going, especially the opportunity to experience Singapore’s “completely different culture”.

His 38 weeks at OCS Singapore will include a tri-service term, a service (army) term, a professional (infantry) term, and a joint term. During his 23-week professional term, it is likely that he will exercise in either Taiwan or Thailand, for general infantry training, and in Brunei for training in jungle terrain. He is looking forward to the chance to make connections across all three services, and the opportunity to learn jungle warfare skills, which he hopes to pass on to his colleagues when he returns to New Zealand.

“At first I was a bit apprehensive about putting my name forward”, he admits. “But then I talked to one of my lecturers, who said ‘it’s an opportunity of a lifetime – go for it!' So I stuck my hand up high!”